Bankruptcy, just hearing the word makes most people think of a horrible situation where someone has just gone crazy spending and is looking for the easy way out. People who have never been in a situation to file look at you like your someone they don’t want to know where others understand and are very supportive.
For me Bankruptcy is a last resort. I am 32 years old. I still live with my mother who is also struggling so I’m not really able to save or pay off anything. I have almost $100,000 in student loans that I can’t even began to put a good dent in due to other bills. I have a huge amount of medical debt and it hard to keep afloat. I personally have been trying for almost 8 years to get myself out of this mess. It’s just not working.
What I have found since deciding to look into bankruptcy is that so many people I knew have done it and have told me how it’s helped them out a lot. All of them were like me. Crazy medical debt that got them into other types of debt and so on. It’s been a real eye opening experience and though I have yet to file, I’m still trying to save to pay the lawyer fees. I found when I walked out of that office the weight of the world left my shoulders.
See, because of some past issues I can’t even get an apartment and currently I am looking at being homeless unless I file, this same issue has kept me from getting a job where I would actually make what I should be making with my college degree and my debt has made it impossible for me to afford a car to get to and from work. I currently drive and pay for a car under my mothers name. Helps her but not me.
I am hoping once I do get the money saved up in a couple of months that I will be able to get my own place and finally have some stability in my life again. I thought I was to that point and with my depression and anxiety, not having stability has been a struggle. You have no idea what having all of this debt does to someone. Knowing that I still have to work on the student loans on top of everything is heartbreaking and I have contemplated suicide many times. It’s not that I don’t want to pay, it’s I can’t find that 30,000-70,000 a year job that the collage said I would get. It’s just not there with my degree.
I’m hoping so share with you all my bankruptcy journey, as much as I am allowed to anyway. It’s something I think people do need to see as an option, not a first option, but an option when you have tried everything you can. It’s time to get rid of the stigma and let people have a chance to breath.
Have you filed bankruptcy? I would love to hear your personal feelings about it!